apache/maven · error · NoGoalSpecifiedException

No goals have been specified for this build. You must specif

Error message

No goals have been specified for this build. You must specify a valid lifecycle phase or a goal in the format <plugin-prefix>:<goal> or <plugin-group-id>:<plugin-artifact-id>[:<plugin-version>]:<goal>. Available lifecycle phases are: {}.

What it means

ConcurrentLifecycleStarter throws NoGoalSpecifiedException when calculateTaskSegments() returns an empty list: no valid lifecycle phase or plugin goal was supplied to the (concurrent-path) build. The message enumerates all accepted phase names and the goal syntax.

Source

Thrown at impl/maven-core/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/lifecycle/internal/concurrent/ConcurrentLifecycleStarter.java:94

        this.executor = executor;
        this.lifecyclePluginResolver = lifecyclePluginResolver;
        this.mojoDescriptorCreator = mojoDescriptorCreator;
    }

    @Override
    public void execute(MavenSession session) {
        eventCatapult.fire(ExecutionEvent.Type.SessionStarted, session, null);

        try {
            if (requiresProject(session) && projectIsNotPresent(session)) {
                throw new MissingProjectException("The goal you specified requires a project to execute"
                        + " but there is no POM in this directory (" + session.getTopDirectory() + ")."
                        + " Please verify you invoked Maven from the correct directory.");
            }

            List<TaskSegment> taskSegments = calculateTaskSegments(session);
            if (taskSegments.isEmpty()) {
                throw new NoGoalSpecifiedException("No goals have been specified for this build."
                        + " You must specify a valid lifecycle phase or a goal in the format <plugin-prefix>:<goal> or"
                        + " <plugin-group-id>:<plugin-artifact-id>[:<plugin-version>]:<goal>."
                        + " Available lifecycle phases are: " + defaultLifeCycles.getLifecyclePhaseList() + ".");
            }

            int degreeOfConcurrency = session.getRequest().getDegreeOfConcurrency();
            if (degreeOfConcurrency > 1) {
                logger.info("");
                logger.info(String.format(
                        "Using the %s implementation with a thread count of %d",
                        executor.getClass().getSimpleName(), degreeOfConcurrency));
            }

            ClassLoader oldContextClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
            ReactorBuildStatus reactorBuildStatus = new ReactorBuildStatus(session.getProjectDependencyGraph());
            ReactorContext reactorContext =
                    new ReactorContext(session.getResult(), oldContextClassLoader, reactorBuildStatus);
            executor.execute(session, reactorContext, taskSegments);

View on GitHub (pinned to e4093d4e12)

Solutions

Pass an explicit phase or goal: mvn verify / mvn plugin:goal
Set <default-goal> in the POM's <build> if you want bare 'mvn' to do something
Fix scripts so the goal variable cannot be empty: mvn ${GOALS:-install}

Example fix

<!-- before: bare 'mvn' with no default-goal -> NoGoalSpecifiedException -->

<!-- after: pom.xml -->
<build>
  <default-goal>verify</default-goal>
</build>

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// reject empty task lists before executing the session
if (taskSegments == null || taskSegments.isEmpty()) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("No goals specified - pass a phase or <plugin>:<goal>");
}

Try / catch

catch (NoGoalSpecifiedException e) {
    // supply a default phase (package/verify) and retry the session
}

Prevention

Default goal variables in scripts: mvn ${GOALS:-verify}
Configure <default-goal> for repos where bare 'mvn' is expected to work
Log the resolved goal list before execution in wrappers

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the concurrent starter with no goals (bare 'mvn'), with only options/properties, or with task strings that the task-segment calculator could not map to any phase or goal; also programmatic sessions whose task list is empty.

Common situations: CI scripts with an empty GOALS variable; wrapper scripts appending goals conditionally and the condition evaluating false; users expecting an implicit default goal other than the POM's <default-goal> (which, if unset, leaves nothing to run).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/maven@e4093d4e12 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ee5573c51f507a3f. Report an issue: GitHub.